3. They'd argued for real enough by this time that when they needed an argument on P3Y-830, it was easy, more or less. Daniel was, naturally, the first to realize that the aggressive attitudes they'd been encountering since entering the village didn't mean what they seemed. His teammates had closed ranks against what they thought were dangerous people... which was absolutely the wrong thing to do, and could have been a self-fulfilling prophesy. The more SG-1 worked in silent accord, the more real the anger underlying the words and actions of the locals became.
"Jack?" Daniel tried to think of a way to let his team leader in on what was going on.
"Daniel? Maybe we should leave the nice angry people alone before we become the main course." Jack had his weapon still pointed down, but Daniel could tell his trigger finger was getting itchy.
"Jack! Why do you automatically assume they're cannibals? You *always* do that!" Daniel turned his back to the apparent leader of the village and tried to signal to Jack with his facial expression. He was very glad he was the only one with a video camera and that it was still in his pack. He figured he looked like an idiot, but if Jack got the message that something was up, it would be worth it. Maybe.
"Um, Daniel? You feeling okay?" Jack glanced back and forth between Daniel's facial gymnastics and the angry sounding locals holding many long pointy weapons.
"Oh, right! Now it's *my* fault?" Daniel was starting to worry that he'd never get through to Jack. It had taken until they'd gotten into the village for all the pieces to fall into place and for him to recognize the social cues for what they were. SG-1 had to get it right and get it right now or risk being seen as dangerous and untrustworthy.
"Carter, when we get back, remind me to have the doc check and see if Daniel's had all his shots." Daniel felt himself blinking reflexively then had to catch himself to keep from grinning. Jack got it.
And so they argued. They covered college football (waste of academic money or financial boon); the designated hitter rule in baseball (that didn't last as both of them thought it stupid); Romantic composers (they left that one quickly since their ongoing Verdi vs. Sibelius debate often came to blows at the best of times); spaghetti sauce (sweet vs. spicy). As they were starting to wind up for the climax to the ever-popular car vs. truck debate, the locals finally relaxed, lowered their weapons and started clapping the members of SG-1 on the back and laughing happily to have met such fine new friends.
During a break in the festivities that followed (nice, if weird, people, great food, no naquadah), Daniel explained that some cultures judge relationships not by how polite people are to each other, but by how hard they argue. The idea being that only people who truly love and trust each other can open up to each other enough to argue without killing each other. Standard SGC diplomatic first contact behavior, on the other hand, would come across as deceitful and untrustworthy. For if members of a team don't trust each other enough to fight openly, how can a stranger trust them?
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Four times Jack and Daniel almost came to blows, and one time they did. Pt. 3
Date: 2008-07-07 02:06 am (UTC)"Jack?" Daniel tried to think of a way to let his team leader in on what was going on.
"Daniel? Maybe we should leave the nice angry people alone before we become the main course." Jack had his weapon still pointed down, but Daniel could tell his trigger finger was getting itchy.
"Jack! Why do you automatically assume they're cannibals? You *always* do that!" Daniel turned his back to the apparent leader of the village and tried to signal to Jack with his facial expression. He was very glad he was the only one with a video camera and that it was still in his pack. He figured he looked like an idiot, but if Jack got the message that something was up, it would be worth it. Maybe.
"Um, Daniel? You feeling okay?" Jack glanced back and forth between Daniel's facial gymnastics and the angry sounding locals holding many long pointy weapons.
"Oh, right! Now it's *my* fault?" Daniel was starting to worry that he'd never get through to Jack. It had taken until they'd gotten into the village for all the pieces to fall into place and for him to recognize the social cues for what they were. SG-1 had to get it right and get it right now or risk being seen as dangerous and untrustworthy.
"Carter, when we get back, remind me to have the doc check and see if Daniel's had all his shots." Daniel felt himself blinking reflexively then had to catch himself to keep from grinning. Jack got it.
And so they argued. They covered college football (waste of academic money or financial boon); the designated hitter rule in baseball (that didn't last as both of them thought it stupid); Romantic composers (they left that one quickly since their ongoing Verdi vs. Sibelius debate often came to blows at the best of times); spaghetti sauce (sweet vs. spicy). As they were starting to wind up for the climax to the ever-popular car vs. truck debate, the locals finally relaxed, lowered their weapons and started clapping the members of SG-1 on the back and laughing happily to have met such fine new friends.
During a break in the festivities that followed (nice, if weird, people, great food, no naquadah), Daniel explained that some cultures judge relationships not by how polite people are to each other, but by how hard they argue. The idea being that only people who truly love and trust each other can open up to each other enough to argue without killing each other. Standard SGC diplomatic first contact behavior, on the other hand, would come across as deceitful and untrustworthy. For if members of a team don't trust each other enough to fight openly, how can a stranger trust them?